Anyone who has closely followed the trajectory of john carpenter and know his personal tastes, you will know that the horror master is passionate about the world of videogames. What not everyone knows is that in addition to being hooked on the ‘NBA 2k’ saga and enjoying getting scared with ‘Dead Space’, he also has actively participated in the development of projects for the environment.
Master of horror, regardless of medium
The good news is that, after his dalliance with the recommendable ‘FEAR 3’, in which he worked in the script department and shaping the cinematics, the filmmaker returns to the interactive world with his own video game: a first person shooter titled ‘John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando’ whose first advance was presented yesterday in the framework of the Summer Game Fest.
As can be seen in the preview, to the rhythm of Bon Jovi’s ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’, the game proposes the umpteenth salad of shots against hordes of hellish creatures of different types —and, probably, with their specific abilities— combined with what looks like heavy use of motor vehicles to get around the map. Nothing new under the sun.
The synopsis for ‘Toxic Commando’ couldn’t be simpler, and seems more like a pretext to unleash the carnage:
“A scientific experiment to extract energy from the Earth’s core goes terribly wrong, awakening the so-called Sludge God, an entity capable of transforming people into zombies.”
The game is developed by the people of Saber Interactive, who have a good experience with this from slaughter legions of the undead in your estimable ‘World War Z’, and who already flirted with the world of cinema in the fun ‘Evil Dead: The Game’. Carpenter has thus celebrated his association with the studio for the occasion:
“It’s exciting to collaborate on a new video game with Focus and Saber. Look, I love shooting zombies. They keep telling me they’re called ‘the infected.’ People are going to love this game.”
‘John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando’ Coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2024but while you wait, you might be interested to know that none other than Nicolas Cage will be a playable character in the long-lived ‘Dead by Daylight’the Behavior Interactive video game that continues to delight the horror movie fandom —and raiding their wallets with DLC—.
Now, after characters like Sadako, Pinhead or Ghostface, Nic Cage will join the hunt on July 25 with abilities that are currently unknown. By the way, ‘Dead by Daylight’ already has a big screen adaptation underway led by Blumhouse and James Wan. Long live video games.
In Espinof | The 13 best movies about video games